![\"In](\"https:\/\/wordpress-assets.futurism.com\/2025\/01\/china-human-robot-race-marathon.png\")
<\/div>Track Stars<\/h2>
In the race to build the best humanoid robots, China is quite literally ahead of the pack.<\/p>
As the South China Morning Post<\/em> reports<\/a>, the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area — or E-Town — is hosting 12,000 humans and humanoid robots from more than 20 companies in a half-marathon race this April.<\/p> The race will be roughly 13 miles, and robotic competitors both cannot have wheels and must stand between 1.5 and 6.5 feet tall. In a statement, E-Town added<\/a> that \"competing robots must have a humanoid appearance and mechanical structure capable of bipedal walking or running movements.\"<\/p> Though this seems to be the world's first race explicitly pitting bipedal humans against robots, it won't be the first time a humanoid robot has taken part in a Chinese atheletic competition.<\/p> Last fall, a bipedal robot called Tiangong — not to be confused with China's space station<\/a> of the same name, which translates to \"heavenly palace\" — jumped into Beijing's Yizhaung half-marathon<\/a> towards its end. Though it only ran about 100 meters and wasn't particularly fast, the robot got a medal because it crossed the finish line (a participation trophy if we've ever heard of one).<\/p> At the Beijing Yizhuang Half #Marathon<\/a> on the morning of Nov. 10, the #Beijing<\/a> humanoid #robot<\/a> \"Tiangong\" entered the racecourse and crossed the finish line alongside the runners. #funinbeijing<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/DQM1zjxneK<\/a><\/p> — Beijing Daily (@DailyBeijing) November 10, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote> Just a few week after Tiangong's surprise marathon debut, the the RAIBO2 robodog competed in a full marathon<\/a> weeks later in South Korea. Though the adorable quadruped was significantly faster than Tiangong, it still took nearly four hours and 20 minutes to run the 26.2 mile race — nearly double the time of the human winner, who clocked in at around two hours and 36 minutes.<\/p> Because it's neither Chinese nor bidepal, RAIBO2 will unfortunately not be involved in the E-Town half-marathon. According to the state-run Xinhua<\/em> news agency, however, Tiangong will be one of the participants<\/a> and will purportedly be capable of running 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) per hour by the time the race rolls around.<\/p> That same agency also reported that later this year, in August, Beijing will be hosting an all-robot sporting event that not only features track and field races, but also football — unclear on whether the outlet is using the American or European definition — and \"comprehensive skills and other application scenarios.\"<\/p> Though we can't known how fast these running robots will be until we actually watch them, we can't wait to watch.<\/p> More on unique robots:<\/strong> Inventor Builds Six Robot Copies of Himself, Uses One to Give Speeches and Take Questions From Audience<\/em><\/a><\/p> The post China Is Hosting The World’s First Foot Race Between Humans and Robots<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> See the original post: Track Stars In the race to build the best humanoid robots, China is quite literally ahead of the pack. As the\u00a0 South China Morning Post reports , the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area \u2014 or E-Town \u2014 is hosting 12,000 humans and humanoid robots from more than 20 companies in a half-marathon race this April Continue reading Dog Gone It<\/h2>
China Is Hosting The World’s First Foot Race Between Humans and Robots<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"